Arbitrator: Quinn can't cancel raises

Wednesday

Jul 20, 2011 at 12:01 AMJul 20, 2011 at 8:00 PM

SPRINGFIELD -- Quoting singer Bruce Springsteen, a state arbitrator ruled Tuesday that unionized state workers are entitled to a 2 percent pay raise even though the General Assembly did not appropriate money for the pay hike.

CHRIS WETTERICH

SPRINGFIELD -- Quoting singer Bruce Springsteen, a state arbitrator ruled Tuesday that unionized state workers are entitled to a 2 percent pay raise even though the General Assembly did not appropriate money for the pay hike.

Arbitrator Edwin Benn said the state violated its contract with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 when it cancelled the scheduled raises just before the state’s new fiscal year started on July 1. He ordered that the raises be restored dating back to all paychecks distributed since the beginning of the fiscal year.

“As a matter of contract, the state has no choice,” Benn wrote in his ruling.

Benn said he based his opinion entirely on the state’s contract with AFSCME. Constitutional and legal arguments are the responsibility of courts, not arbitrators, he said.

However, he added, if lawmakers can void a contract simply by not appropriating the money to satisfy it, no public employee union will ever again agree to a multi-year agreement.

Gov. Pat Quinn’s office said it will appeal the arbitrator’s ruling to an unspecified circuit court.

“The fiscal year 2012 budget does not provide the money for pay raises for nearly 30,000 state employees at 14 agencies,” said Quinn spokeswoman Annie Thompson. “Funding these raises would mean that these agencies would not be able to make payroll for the entire year, disrupting core services for the people of Illinois, including children, the elderly and those with special needs.”

The administration says the increases would cost about $75 million for the current fiscal year.

"We have always said what's at stake here is much more than a pay increase. This is a question of whether the fundamental right of working people to bargain collectively will be upheld in Illinois," Bayer said. "We welcome this ruling because it makes clear that the governor cannot simply break a contract at will. We call on the governor to keep his word and accept the arbitrator's clear ruling to avoid further costly litigation."

Benn declined to address the state’s argument that it did not have to grant the raises for constitutional and statutory reasons. The state said that since the General Assembly did not appropriate money for the raises and because the Illinois Constitution does not allow money to be spent that is not approved by lawmakers, it was within its rights to withhold the raises.

It also argued that a sentence in the state’s public labor relations law saying that collective bargaining agreements are “subject to the appropriation power of the employer” meant that, because the legislature did not give the governor enough money to spend, he does not have to grant the raises.

Benn said those are questions for judges. An arbitrator’s job is to rule only on disputes between employers and employees over whether the terms of a contract have been fulfilled, he said.

Benn also commented on the potential ramifications if a judge agrees with the state down the road. He predicted that labor unions would not agree to multi-year contracts with any governmental body in Illinois if the deals could simply be voided by a legislative body withholding the money.

“This is a very serious dispute with profound ramifications on the collective bargaining process in this state,” he wrote in a footnote. “But sometimes lyrics to music succinctly express a condition.

The state will appeal the arbitrator’s ruling to a circuit court, although it’s unclear which one. AFSCME also has a pending federal court case against the state. A hearing in that case has not yet been set.